(Host) Federal disaster response staff will be in the state today to view the damage from weekend flash floods in Rutland and Addison Country.
Estimates have not been compiled for all the damage. Ripton officials say the town’s roads need $500,000 in repairs. Middlebury’s estimate is $175,000.
In Rutland, the Asa Bloomer State Office Building was hardest hit. The basement of the building filled with five feet of water when sewer pipes backed up in a deluge of stormwater.
The water damaged electrical, telephone and computer systems and disabled an elevator.
State officials were forced to close the building. The 180 people who work there are operating from temporary space in a variety of places, from Rutland to Middlebury.
Barbara Farr is director of Vermont Emergency Management. She says the public can still get what it needs from state government in the region.
(Farr) "They have adapted very well. They have all found alternate locations to work out. They are scattered but they do have phones, they are networked. They have computer access. And they have done fantastic job going to alternate locations. They have made sure that clients they typically take care of and serve continue to have their service.”
(Host) The state office building had as much as one million dollars in damage and it’s likely to be July before employees can return.